BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Michigan State’s offense has struggled for much of this season.

Indiana’s defense might be the cure.

The Spartans scored just three points in a loss to Notre Dame, 23 in the win over Eastern Michigan and 16 in last week’s loss to Ohio State.

Now, the Spartans (3-2, 0-1 Big Ten) face Indiana (2-2, 0-1), which gave up a whopping 704 yards last week in a 44-29 loss at Northwestern last Saturday. That was after the Hoosiers surrendered 440 yards, including 206 on the ground, in a 41-39 loss to Ball State in their previous game.

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Michigan State’s offensive struggles are a big part of why the Spartans are in the rare position of being unranked. Coach Mark Dantonio said the team needs to take it personally.

“If we approach things with our head down and everything, things are probably going to stay the same,” Dantonio said. “If we get up, if we rise up a little bit, we get a little bit irritated where we’re at, we want to make a statement, then that will happen. I would expect our football team will make a statement when we come to play. That’s how we’ve done things here. We’re not in panic mode.”

There have been bright spots for the offense. Michigan State quarterback Andrew Maxwell ranks second in the Big Ten in passing yards per game (227.6). He has completed 103-of-185 throws (.557) for 1,138 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. He passed for 269 yards in loss to Ohio State.

The running game, considered the offense’s strong point, struggled against Ohio State. Dantonio said a focus will be getting running back Le’Veon Bell going. The junior leads the Big Ten and ranks sixth nationally with 131 yards per game. He ran for 210 yards against Boise State, 253 yards against Eastern Michigan. He had just 45 yards on 17 carries against Ohio State, totals Dantonio doesn’t consider acceptable.

“We’ve got to get our running backs into the secondary,” Dantonio said. “We have to provide opportunities for him, try to make it work. But we’ll see how we do this weekend. Continue to push.”

In the passing game, tight end Dion Sims leads the Spartans in catches (24) and receiving yards (313), ranking second in the FBS in both categories.

Indiana’s defense enters the game with much to prove. Coach Kevin Wilson was disappointed with the performance against Northwestern.

“We struggled defensively, tackling and getting off blocks,” he said. “They (Northwestern) worked us well and did some things, but we have got to get off blocks. We’ve got a few new wrinkles and setting things right and getting secondary support and some things need to be cleaned up as we move forward.”

Wilson believes the Hoosiers can compete against the Spartans, but his team must be focused.

“The one thing we are talking with our team about, and if you kind of look at us across four games you’ll see flashes in all areas of some decent things, but you don’t see it consistently,” he said. “You might get good play out of an individual, you might get good play at certain times of the game. We aren’t getting it for 60 minutes.”

Indiana enters the game with questions at quarterback. Cameron Coffman started against Northwestern, but was benched after an ineffective first half. Freshman Nate Sudfeld stepped in and rallied the team before he faltered in the fourth quarter. Wilson did not make it clear this week who would start this week, saying it would depend on how each player performed in practice.

Both quarterbacks will face a stout defense that surrenders just 12.8 points (12th nationally) and 263.4 yards (ninth nationally) per game. In their most impressive effort, the Spartans held Boise State without an offensive touchdown for the first time since 1997 and limited the Broncos to 206 total yards, including 37 rushing yards.

Michigan State’s defense will be tested, though. Indiana trailed 27-0 but came back under Sudfeld and trailed just 37-29 in the fourth quarter. Dantonio noticed the fight in the Hoosiers.

“Even though they got down versus Northwestern, they were competitive, came back, cut the lead to eight,” he said. “At the end, it all fell apart a little bit at the very end. They were very competitive and I think they’re going to play very competitive.”

“We’ll just push through it. We’ve done that before here,” he said. “Sometimes tough times require tough people.”